In what seems to be the latest case of violence against healthcare professionals in India, another resident doctor was attacked in Punjab by a patient’s attendants.
The incident in question took place at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital (GNDH) in Amritsar on October 13. The victim, Dr Dhanush Chandra, was a junior resident doctor in the hospital’s Department of Surgery. Dr Dhanush was allegedly physically assaulted, and his intern was verbally assaulted by the assailant.
In response to the attack, the junior resident doctors of the hospital, along with the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) of Amritsar, have begun an indefinite strike of all Outpatient Department (OPD) operations in the hospital.
What happened?
According to Dr Arshmeet Singh, President of RDA Amritsar, Dr Dhanush was attacked because he could not perform an electrocardiogram test (commonly called ECG) on a patient in the paediatrics ward.
Dr Arshmeet claims that the attendants of the patient came to the surgical ward, stating that they had to get an ECG of the patient done. Dr Dhanush told them that the room was a surgical ward and that the ECG room was across the corridor.
However, the family members started to get aggressive and asked why he could not do it. When the doctor tried to inform the patient’s attendants that he could not administer the test, as he was a part of the surgical department, the family started to get more aggressive and began to demand that he perform an ECG, alleged Dr Arshmeet.
Eventually, the family started verbally abusing Dr Dhanush, which ultimately escalated into a physical scuffle, Dr Arshmeet claimed. Dr Dhanush was left with heavy injuries on the nose and the face.
At this point, Dr Arshmeet intervened and called the police, who cleared the place. However, the family allegedly arrived at the hospital with a mob of 30 to 40 people and the police, accusing the hospital of medical negligence, as the patient unfortunately passed away. Dr Arshmeet also alleges that the police accused him of removing the turban of one of the attendants, which counts as a grave religious offence against Sikhs.
“I denied the allegations as I did no such thing,” says Dr Arshmeet, and goes on to allege, “But the police were forcing me to admit to doing it.” Ultimately, the police also threatened to file a case against the hospital, he further alleges.
In a video shared by the X (formerly Twitter) handle of RDA Amritsar, a visibly bandaged Dr Dhanush stated that he did not venture out of his hospital bed as he was too scared of the mob. “I don’t know what I did wrong, I did not deny any treatment or help. I don’t know why I was attacked. Even my intern is still shaken by the incident,” he can be heard saying.
Not the first incident
According to Dr Arshmeet, this is the fourth instance of violence against healthcare workers in the hospital alone.
When a first-year junior resident doctor in the paediatrics ward of the Government Medical College (GMC), to which GNDH is affiliated, was physically attacked in July, RDA protested and demanded that the Government of Punjab set up measures to ensure the safety of medical staff.
“We received verbal assurances from the government that action would be taken in a month, and we were asked to call off our protest. However, it has been two months since then, and there have been three more incidents,” says Dr Arshmeet.
Terming the incident as a “new bar for injustice”, the RDA called for a suspension of all OPD activities from today, October 14.
“Looking at the situation, many other organisations of this college i.e. Nursing Association, Pharmacist Association, and many more have extended their support to us and are joining us in our protest outside the OPD block. We request each doctor to come forward and join us in these times,” the statement from RDA addresses the Junior and Senior Residents of the GMC and GNDH.
The OPD would be on strike until the two demands, which are, the police filing an FIR against the assailants and the state government beefing up the security to up to 200 personnel, are met.
“If no action is taken until Monday, we will call for a state-level strike,” says Dr Arshmeet.
RDA has received support from the United Doctors Front Association (UDFA), the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) and the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA), all of which have amplified their calls for justice.
